-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Government and opposition in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday presented a joint front to indict judiciary on diverse counts - from corruption, favouritism and nepotism to compromises due to lust of post-retirement jobs and benefits - as they approved a bill which seeks to scrap the collegium system of appointing judges. The Constitution amendment ending judiciary's monopoly in appointing judges by giving executive a crucial role...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The National Food Security Bill, which seeks to provide heavily-subsidized food to two-thirds of India's 1.23 billion people, was passed by the Rajya Sabha on Monday. Much like what happened in the Lok Sabha last week, there was a scramble among political parties to garner populist brownie points even as they differed fiercely on certain provisions of the bill and their implementation. With the Congress all...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Prime Minister on Friday called for a political consensus on "more difficult reforms", indicating that the government was considering a cut in fuel subsidy, which would mean higher petrol and diesel prices, and bringing in measures to curb gold imports. Making a statement in the Lok Sabha on the current economic situation, Manmohan Singh admitted that the current account deficit had gone up sharply and...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Political parties banded together to strongly oppose the recent Supreme Court order that legislators be immediately disqualified on conviction and called on the government to take measures to undo the ruling. The all-party meeting ahead of the monsoon session on Thursday saw political parties in one voice protesting the "erosion" of Parliament's supremacy in law-making with leaders claiming the SC order is an assault on their...

-The Hindu There has been no public debate on the level of watch citizens can be put through, and on what the red lines should be while using intrusive mechanisms The tussle between government agencies' need for a better, faster and real-time interception, surveillance and monitoring mechanism through the Central Monitoring System (CMS), on the one hand, and demands by privacy, civil rights and free speech activists, for ensuring higher privacy for...